Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-09-29

There IS no GucSSWOrk about ium-
bering, says the ST. Paul Globe. Each
log, from the day that it strikes the
earth in the pineries until it is laid on
the Dakota prairies for building pur-
poses, moves in fixed course.
But it is not the log, but the log-cut-
ter and log-driver that form the rarest
objects of interest in numbering a
giant pine, sobbing and signing be-
fore its ignominous tumble, is to be
looked at but not half as quickly nor so
long as the driver" threading his way
over jam or guiding the drive down
to the booms. From Chippewa Falls
in Wisconsin, to Brainerd and Frozen
City in this state, the genus homo
known as log-drivers are very numer-
Gus Living in camps of their own
most Of the year, seeking the small
cities only in short season of rest,
Injured to every exposure, bronzed by
the weather, rendered Indifferent by
the dangers they have incurred, they
become peculiarly distinguished from
other men. A log-driver on q drunk
is not teamster or railrOader drunk
by any means.
His home when in service is under a
tent or in log huts arranged in the
clearing adiacent to his field of labor.
Each camp has it's own arrangements,
but as Il rule in the northwest
permanent structures are now erected
for shelter. At Wilson the company
owns all Of the houses, the grocery and
supply stores, and rent the men their
homes and sell them their needed
supplies. At Clear Lake there is a
much similar system, but both of these
towns lie in the heart of great forests.
Where long drives must be had, as
from the upper Brainerd country to
Minneapolis, OF into TaylOr'S Falls or
down the Chippewa to Eau Claire, the
camp at the head of the work is a rude
ly constructed concern, meant only for
shelter, not comfort. Your true ium-
bermen doesn't care. He desires more
that the calks in his boot-soles should
be sharp than his bed soft. These
calks, half an inch long and in number
from ten to one hundred, give an
identity to the imprint of l0gdriver's
foot that can not be mistaken. In
wandering prOmiscuously over ''head
and tall jam, he finds his cork
life preScrVerS, now not at the waist,
but on the heels The manner in which
a loo in Il jam can form clock" and,
being the key to the combination, hold
in apparently ineXtricable confusion
thousands OF other logs is one of the
mysteries of numbering. Twenty-Five
million feet of logs in one Jam at
Taylor's Falls and baby attachment
q little further up the stream of five
million feet. 1t is a sight that people
90 miles to see-this barricade of
great stream, defying man, and with
grinding, grooming, and many Il moan,
writing in bounden rage against its
own work.
1t is a terrific sight-a mystery. The
''breaking" of a jam, which means
simply its end, is an apparently hercu-
lean task, although accomplished by
single man, who, if successful, dies in
his tracks, killed by the logs he has
freed, or escapes by only fearful race
against time across the stream to land
and safety. The chances these drivers
will take at such moments are incredi-
BILE if not witnessed. Their clumsy
hulls become the bodies of sprites,
who leap from floating log to log with
the touch of an antelope that spurns
without pressing. As the logs break
loose and the great mass begins to
move, the crunching and grinding
that ensues is like the ragings of a
giant looSening his bonds. A log
driver needs less instruments of war,
perhaps, than any other soldier of
labor, Give him a pick-pole, which IS
10
staff, iron-shod, and 4 cant-dog and he
is equipped, if exception is made of
the blasting-powder sometimes, in
emergencies. The cant-dog, or hook,
is useful under nearly all the circum-
stances of numbering. To pull, twist,
or turn It is about as handy as anything
that can be imagined, and, in a free
fight, q weapon to be feared. The
outdoor life Of these lumbermen brings
to them a strength of limb phenomenal
outside of their class. Life in Morrison
county forests, CT on the st. CroiY
range, or the north Wisconsin, or the
upper Mississippi or the Otter Tail is
but getting as much fresh air, plain
food, and hard exercise as any man
need want 1t IS q vigorous, exciting
life, with enough danger to keep the
eyes open. One can not trip lightly
over floating logs without long expert
ence. A ducking taken between the
logs is accompanied by other dangers
sufficiently hazardous. The sorting OF
logs necessitates this delicate feat il
walking. To a log-roller cork shod ii
is but so much sport but an amateur
would find it the toughest job he ever
undertook. The principle of sorting
is only establishing ownership of the
logs after they have reached the end
of drive, and confusing task as that
may seem, it is generally not difficult
one for experienced men to accom-
plish.
The numerous small towns scattered
along the rivers of the state at the
present time remove much of the
wildness from log drive. The men
have less hardships TO bear and theil
food is better. But in camp hard food
is the rule and fashion. Corn bread.
pork, potatoes, tea and coffee, sirups,
are all substantials for them. Clean.
illness in the camp is hard to obtain,
though much desired by the bosses and